DAN News
Dive Retailers Status Reports
Last Updated: 10/1/2009 11:02:30 AM

DAN has received the following emails from those connected to dive retail operations affected by Hurricane Ivan. We are sharing these with everyone due to concerns we have received regarding the status of these operations. Any dive retailer that has been affected by Hurricanes Ivan or Jeanne and would like to relay information to us to give to the public here may do so by clicking here.

• DiveTech, Grand Cayman (received Oct. 8): Divetech plans to be re-open for divers on Nov. 15, 2004, as long as the island is ready to receive visitors by then. Power is coming our way, and we except to have full power restored in about a week or so. The staff has been very hard at work with this past three-plus weeks dedicated now to working on both Ten Ata and Ata Tude, and they are looking really pretty! The hardest work of sanding, grinding, fiber glassing is coming to a close in a week, and then we are ready for repainting. The boats should be back in good shape by the end of the month. We also started work on the shop at Turtle Reef this week, and it will be done in about a month, ready to go and filled with tanks for shore diving. Once we get 3-phase power restored, we will be able to fire up the compressor, but she did not take on water, so we are very happy about that and believe that she'll be pumping in no time flat again. The staff here has been wonderful, and everyone in the community is helping out each other to get what they need and get things done.
• Ocean Frontiers, Grand Cayman (received Oct. 5): Boats OK, staff OK, shop OK. We lost the dock, the new condos took a hit on the ground floor. We re-open Nov 20. As good as new. Also, the reefs are in very good shape. Keep checking the OF site (http://www.oceanfrontiers.com) for updates. We are in good spirits and all will be back to normal soon.
• Red Sail Sports, Cayman Islands (updated Oct. 4): The management team of Red Sail Sports Grand Cayman is pleased to confirm that all their staff members are safe and no one suffered any physical injuries from Ivan. "We lost one mast off one of our three catamarans, but our dive boats suffered only minor cosmetic damage and repairs are already in progress," said Rod McDowall, Operations Manager. Additionally, the operation did lose some vehicles due to flooding; however, the nucleus of the fleet is up and running. Additionally, the operation did lose some vehicles due to flooding; however, the nucleus of the fleet is up and running. McDowall added that at this time no date could be set for re-opening, due in part to the current limitations on travel to Grand Cayman. "We will be diving and sailing very quickly -- just as soon as the island infrastructure is restored sufficiently to welcome back visitors." At press time, because of power outages, cleaning up and rebuilding, Nov. 1 was the date the Cayman Islands government had announced. If you have reservations and would like to inquire as to the status of a refund or rebooking then please call our toll-free number 1-877-733-7245 or email info@redsailcayman.com. We'd like to thank all of our customers for their concern, patience and continued support of our dive operation and the Cayman Islands. You may visit our website at http://www.redsailcayman.com for further information. Updates will be posted as they become available. Thank you.
• Deep Six Watersports, Vero Beach, Fla. (received phone call from them Sept. 30): A spokesman with the resort said that even though they were hit by the hurricane, they plan to be back in operation by Oct. 1.
• Dive Tiara Beach Resort, Cayman Brac (received Sept. 30 from Liz Hillier): After a lot of cleanup and hard work, our amazing staff has put our resort and dive operation back together. Cayman Brac was spared a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan, and we were very lucky. We only lost our dock and one of our boats is now on the beach under the shade of a palm tree! Our other three boats are awesome and ready for divers. Other than that and a lot of debris, we didn't have too many damages. Our dock is being rebuilt and should be better than ever in the next month. We are able to take divers diving by using a concrete pier that is two minutes down the beach from our location and have devised a temporary fill station (as our previous one was on the dock!). All the rooms in the resort are ready and didn't sustain any damage. The Cayman Islands government has just allowed tourists back into Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. We have an international airport here on the Brac and jets are able to land. The smaller prop planes will take Little Cayman tourists directly from the Brac. Our big sister, Grand Cayman, was hit hard by Ivan. They are the ones who could use all the help.
• Pirates Point Resort, Grand Cayman (received Sept. 29 from Peter): Grand Cayman took the brunt of Ivan. Besides a lot of rocks and downed trees on the beach, we didn't have a lot of damage. Right now we're cleaning up, and should be ready to open according to plan on Oct. 16.
• Club Caribbean Dive and Travel, Diberville, Miss. (received Sept. 27 from Billy Wise): We are truly BLESSED by GOD. We came through OK. Our homes and business made it through fine. We had trees down, our area had high winds, we lost power for the night and minor damage, but nothing like our neighbors in Louisiana and Florida. We took all the necessary precautions and even evacuated the area. We came back immediately after the storm to discover we dodged a major bullet. We do have a beach cottage in Destin, Fla. that we take our students to for the weekends when we do their open water dives. I have not heard any news about Destin yet nor can we drive over due to curfews and bridges being knocked down.
• Bon Bini Divers, Bonaire (received Sept. 27 from Susan Davis): No damage except for sand on the floor reported at the dive shop; the boat dock sustained minimal damage in one area, which has been repaired.
• Sea Saba Dive Center, Netherlands Antilles (received Sept. 27 from "Lynn and John and the team"): We're not trying to capitalize on others' problems, as we've had our share of storms in the past. But yes, Saba looks better than ever. We've had plenty of rain this year, so the island is green and wonderful, and storms have been missing us.
• Paradise Watersports, Peter Island Resort, British Virgin Islands (received from Randy Keil Sept. 24): Although Hurricane Ivan's eye came no closer than 500 miles, the effects of this Category 5 storm can be seen on the reefs of the BVI. Loose rubble has been scoured out of holes and pockets on the reefs and sponges have been ripped from the reef and lie in piles on the bottom. Many of the small boulders and rocks that line our canyons and shorelines have been rolled and tumbled clean of the sponges, anemones and bryozoans that cemented them in place. A new carpet of bright green algae now coats these areas. Both hard and soft coral areas fared well, and the fish population has remained as diverse and healthy as ever. A diver who has never visited the BVI would be hard put to point out any damaged areas but those familiar with BVI waters will notice holes in the bottom where there were none before and favorite landmarks either out of place or in different orientations.
• Dive BVI Ltd., Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands (received from Joseph T. Giacinto, Managing Director, Sept. 24): The BVI so far has been spared any serious storm activity. We have had rain but no winds to talk of. All is well here; however, the damage done up and down the Caribbean has been horrendous, and we can only thank God for sparing us.
• Sunset House, Grand Cayman (UPDATED from Keith E. Sahm, Director of Marketing, received Sept. 24): Sunset House will be opening full Restaurant and Bar operations by Monday, Sept. 27. My Bar is currently under review for repairs but full operations in the restaurant and on the restaurant patio will be available. City power is on full time, and we expect city water to be restored by Sept. 27. A little-known fact about Sunset House is that we have 50,000 gallons of fresh rain water in the cisterns at all times and we have a massive well water supply. Sunset House was out of water for less than 24 hours after the storm. Sunset's internal power plant was left intact, and we had power immediately after the storm. The boats Sea Ray is back in front of the resort. Eagle Ray and Leopard Ray are staying in the Hurricane Hole, as we have no guests to go diving anyway, but are in good shape. Manta is back in the water and conducting salvage work on 50-plus vessels at this time. Sting Ray has been set back up on dry dock and appears to have no damage at all. The rooms are now 95% occupied by staff and relief workers. Insurance adjustors and roofing crews are now working on plans and repairs to damage. We would like to thank everyone for the many emails and for the generous offers for relief aid. Words are not enough to thank you for your efforts.
• The Cape Eleuthera Island School, the Bahamas (received from Morgan Black Sept. 24): Thanks for your note, in regards to how we are surviving this crazy hurricane season. Frances ripped through the Bahamas here, but our school and our dive locker survived in fine shape. Everyone in South Eleuthera remained unhurt, thankfully. South Eleuthera did not get the brunt of the the storm as central and North Eleuthera did. Thanks for your concern, and pass our well wishes and concern to those that did not fare as well as we did.
• Sea Wolf Diving School, Montserrat, West Indies (received from Wolf Sept. 24): Montserrat has been very lucky so far. We have not been touched by any of the recent hurricanes, although the latest one, Jeanne, became a tropical storm just when it had passed over our island. All we had was a lot of rain that did not do any major damage and two weeks of no diving because of the rough seas.
• Sealife Divers, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (received from Franco Spina Sept. 24): Thanks for your concern, but sincerely it was the most uneventful hurricane that ever approached the area. We suffered no damages of any kind except the loss of business for 5 days while we put all our gear out of the shop and secured the boats.
• Kalichee Surf Shop, Manati, Puerto Rico (received from Javier E. Gines Sept. 23): Ivan did not hit Puerto Rico. Tropical Storm Jeannie did; I had to close the store for two days because there was no electric power in the whole island. Other than that, everything is fine here.
• Tortuga Divers, Cayman Islands (received from Lee Ann Wade Sept. 23): All employees have been accounted for and are safe. Our boats were secured in our "hurricane hole" and fortunately have not sustained any damage. The pier at Morritt's has been completely destroyed, and our dive shop suffered some damage as well. At the moment, we are still assessing when we will be fully operational - much of that depends, of course, on the main infrastructure for the island as well as the resort. If you have reservations and would like to inquire as to the status of a refund or rebooking, please call our toll-free number 1-877-733-7245 or email tortugad@tortugadivers.com. We'd like to thank all of our customers for their concern, patience and continued support of our dive operation and the Cayman Islands. You may visit our website at http://www.TortugaDivers.com for further information. Updates will be posted as they become available. Thank you.
• Dolin Dive Center, Bavaro Beach, Dominican Republic: (received from Mario Delgado Sept. 23): Thank goodness nothing major happened to our facilities in Bavaro. We are starting to reorganize so we can begin normal activities tomorrow.
• Scubacaribe, with locations in Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Mexico (received from Martin Costa Sept. 24): For the Dominican Republic, according to Juan Blanco, "Actually, we are diving again, and most of the damage is repaired, but we still need communication with the capitol Santo Domingo for main logistics." The Cancun reefs were partially damaged, and we are working hard on the reconstruction of them. The local dive centers are sending divers out to reattach broken corals under the supervision of government biologists. It's amazing to see the cooperation of different organizations and companies working for one goal. The visibility at most dive sites is back at about 30 to 45 feet and improving steadily. Our base in Negril / Jamaica didn't suffer any losses at all, just the garden of the hotel was slightly "redesigned." The beaches are still there without big losses, and in a few days the visibility at the reefs is going to be back to normal. The only thing we are missing in Mexico is our beach, it is gone with the wind (it was actually the waves that took it). This damage will take quite some time to fix, if we can fix it at all. The hurricane really didn't get to us, just the waves.
• Northern Coast Aquasports, Sousa, Dominican Republic (received from Gina van Someren Sept. 23): Hurricane Ivan did not bother us. But the next one, Jeanne ... We were very lucky on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. The south coast was much worse. That is where the most damage is. We had a lot of wind and rain, but we did not have serious damage. A lot of houses lost their roofs, and a lot of trees fell down. At the store, we didn't have damage, except for no electricity and telephone lines. I am now at an internet cafe. We have been out of power and telephone service the last four days, and it looks like that we will be at least three more days. The electricity and telephone company are doing what they can, but there is so much damage all over.
• La Cueva-Submarina Inc., Isabela, Puerto Rico (received from Efrain Acevedo Rodriguez Sept. 23): Thank goodness we are getting our feet back under us now. We still don't have electricity in the store, but we do have water. Basically, the damage was from materials that got wet, and some equipment was affected. God willing, we will be at DEMA. We need to talk about various things and buy course materials. Thanks again, and we hope to see you soon.
• Yucatek Divers, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (received from Jolanda Moret Sept. 22): Ivan just passed north of our area. Cancun and Isla Mujeres had strong wind. We were lucky. Some palapas fell in, that's it. No damage! Thanks and best regards.
• Scuba Jamaica, with locations at Pebbles Resort in Montego Bay and FDR Resort in St. Ann (received from Kellie Lawrie Sept. 22): We are all OK. I can give you a little bit of idea about the North Coast, anyway. We are back to business as usual and were only down for a couple of days. Some small parts of the island inland are still without power, but I think that phone service is almost completely restored. A few hotels are still closed for clean up, but most are already back to receiving guests and so on. I am not sure how the south coast (Kingston) or the west end (Negril) fared, but Montego Bay to Ocho Rios look A-OK!
• Peter Hughes Diving, based in Miami Lakes, Fla.; this includes its boats (received from Diana Heaton Sept. 22): Thank you for your concern. All of the boats and crew are fine. The only dicey moment was when Ivan was approaching Mobile, Alabama, where the Sun Dancer II is for dry-dock.
• Froggies Out Island Adventure, Hope Town, Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas (received from Theresa Lambert Sept. 20): Froggies did well with the hurricane, the boats and the dive shop. Froggies, you know, is in Hope Town, and the biggest damage was at the Abaco Inn Resort, but they are cleaning up fast. Everyone got a lot of sand (everywhere). The Hope Town Harbour Lodge is open for business and Sea Spray too, but all the other resorts are close anyway this time of year. Lambert had a dive today at the Fowl Cay National Park. And the reef looks great! Harsh Harbour still needs a lot of cleanup, but the little islands around go to work fast as a community and clean up fast. Froggies is just waiting for the the season to start again. We are ready.
• Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas, Nassau (from Michelle Cove, received Sept. 19): All is business as usual. Other than a few trees down we were unscathed by Francis. We are very thankful that we fared so well during Hurricane Frances. We also want to thank our customers who showed their faith in us and continued with their vacation plans.
• Neptuno Dive Center, San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic (from Wolfgang Floercks, received Sept. 17): Thanks for your email and concern. Hurricane Ivan was not such a big problem because it passed far out (500 kilometers) from the island, but we didn't have such good luck with Hurricane Jeanne. It came yesterday with a lot of rain and winds. Thanks to the gods we didn't have serious damage here at our dive center. We hope that the Dominican Republic can recover very soon when the rain stops. Anyway, thanks for your email.
• Devotion 2 Ocean, St. George's, Grenada (from Jack Welham, father of operator Ruth Welham; received Sept. 14): Have just received message from Ruth. They and staff all OK. Boat OK but dive shop devastated. All other operators survived (in body) but severe damage. State of emergency declared. There is no power nor phone service. Water and food are running low. Ninety percent of island devastated.
• Aquanauts, Grenada (from Gerlinde Seupel, Sales & Marketing; received Sept. 14, updated Sept. 22): We have been hit hard, but we hope to be reopened and fully functional by Oct. 1. Calypso was washed up on the beach upside down, now is back on her keel and afloat, or what is left of her. We will tow her to True Blue where the surveyor will inspect her and make his decision. On a positive side it looks like we might get power to True Blue in the next few days, so we are checking all our circuits. The other two boats are OK. Our entire Recovery Crew is doing a great job of getting things back in order!

In addition, DAN already has received information from one of its Business Members about plans to clean up after the hurricane in Florida. For more information on that, visit here.